I shifted uncomfortably in my confining airline seat as the steady drone of the jet engines hummed through my very being. SWOOSH! Another startlingly loud flush of the overused toilets behind me ruptured the monotony. A stewardess, struggling to roll an unruly cart down the crowded isle, moved towards my row of seats, "Water, coffee, coke, or wine?" she asked. "Wine please," I responded. "White or red?", she interjected."White, thanks", I specified before awkwardly reaching over an impressively tall and thin African Francophone male to my left who appeared to be just as uncomfortable in his aisle seat as I was in my middle one. "Pardonnez moi," I apologized, "Je suis désolée." I felt as though these were the only words that we had exchanged on this flight. Whenever I had the need to use the facilities behind me, or make any movement really, I had to say these words while trying to do so. My fellow passenger to the right was in no condition to move out of the way for me either. He was a very overweight Swahili/African man of middle age, and therefore could barely fit in his seat. This made it so that every time he moved, I was jabbed in one area of my person or another.
Only a few moments before, the seat belt light was turned off (for about the fifth time on our turbulent journey), which I promptly took advantage of and walked up the rows of seats to where Sharron was watching a movie with her headset and asked her about the sleeping pills that we had both brought. "We have about 4-5 hours before they bring us breakfast, so let's try and grab some sleep while we can, okay?", I reasoned with her. "It's only 6 o'clock in the afternoon back home. I'm not even tired", she complained, "and I forgot to unpack my sleeping pills before we sent off our luggage...so can you just bring me some of yours?" "I guess so, sure!" I said as I turned to go, "Just let me go back there and take down my carry-on." On my way back with the medication, I passed a somewhat familiar face in line for the restrooms. "Hi!", I quietly greeted Mark with a wave. He flashed another smile before turning away to look at another passenger.
I was now desperately trying to get some sleep in this unrelenting environment. I slowly finished the Dixie cup of generic wine from the stewardess before curling myself as far down in my upright seat as I could, while leaning hard against the toilet station wall behind me, as if trying to gain just one more inch of recline. I put on the provided sleeping mask, turned on the meditation music station through my headphones, and tried to force myself into a dreamlike state. I could feel the men to my sides turn and shift restlessly in their seats, unavoidably nudging me as they did so. At least I'm not the only person suffering at this moment, I thought through my medically-induced drowsiness. I drifted off and began to see visions of places now far away when suddenly...SWOOSH! I was jolted awake by another passengers' bodily fluids being loudly disposed of. I am never going to get any sleep at this rate...what are they..6 hours ahead of us in France? That means I'm going to go a very long time without any sleep doesn't it? My tortured thoughts voiced their despair in my head. This would indeed be a very long, cramp inducing, and groggily-maneuvered flight before we reached our destination.
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